Friday, August 24, 2007

Eeyore's Reflections on Albus Dumbledore

While reading Deathly Hallows, I found myself experiencing the same angst-ridden feelings of doubt over Albus Dumbledore as Harry did. He longer struck me as a man unafraid of death ("After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure" anyone?) but as one tempted to become the Master of Death by uniting the three articles of the Deathly Hallows along with his friend, Grindelwald. It was really something to see a teary Dumbledore lamenting to Harry about what a fool he was. Dumbledore's usage of "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also," on the tomb of his mother and sister, show how foolish and selfish he was. Dumbledore was lured by power and a fear of death, which led to a fate worse than death, that of remorse and alienation from his family. Pat Henderson of Eeyore's Reflections has a fantastic article, Albus Dumbledore -- Not Who We Thought He was, which explores the humanity of Dumbledore in greater depth. She wrote:

Rather than being disappointed in who Dumbledore turned out to be, I found it encouraging. Here is a hero who is not so different than any of us--one who has made choices, one choice which was devastating, but which set his feet and heart on a life-long path of redemption, as he tried to live the rest of his life as he now knew he should have done. The past could not be undone, as Dumbledore learned when he was once again tempted to try to use the Resurrection Stone, but except for that one last stumble, his choices for the future showed that he had learned from his mistakes, had taken responsibility for them, as he spent his life teaching students, being an example of mercy to all, and in the end, tried to help Severus and Harry accomplish what he, the greatest wizard of all, could not do--defeat the evil that terrorized the world in the form of Lord Voldemort. So even though Albus turned out not to be the perfect person many of us built him up to be, I think what Rowling gave us in Albus Dumbledore was much better.